Man charged in boating death of boy out on bond

A speedboat struck and killed Tony Borcia July 28

August 23, 2012|By John P. Huston, Chicago Tribune reporter

The Bartlett man charged with reckless homicide in the boating death of a 10-year-old boy had a prior arrest for driving a boat while intoxicated — one that he did not acknowledge during a recent court appearance, authorities said.

David Hatyina, 50, allegedly had cocaine in his system and was over the legal alcohol limit when his speedboat struck and killed Tony Borcia, a Libertyville fifth-grader, on July 28 on the Chain O' Lakes in northern Lake County. Hatyina has been charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol causing death.

At a hearing Aug. 14, where Hatyina's bond was set at $1 million, he denied any prior arrests or convictions under questioning from Lake County Judge George Bridges, Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ari Fisz said.

After the bond hearing, an official with the state's attorney's office ran a phonetic computer search and discovered that Hatyina had been charged in 1996 with operating a boat while intoxicated, a misdemeanor for which he was sentenced to a year of court supervision. The charge was not discovered before because Hatyina's name was misspelled in the earlier charge, Fisz said.

But Frank Howard, Hatyina's attorney, said he does not recall the judge asking if Hatyina had ever been arrested, only if he had any prior convictions. Howard said the earlier conviction was wiped from Hatyina's record after he successfully completed the court supervision.

Still, Fisz requested a higher bond for Hatyina on Aug. 16 for his failure to mention the prior arrest. The motion was denied after Bridges confirmed that Hatyina had surrendered his passport, meaning he was a less of a flight risk.

Hatyina was freed after posting 10 percent of his bond the evening of Aug. 14.

Tony Borcia fell off an inner tube while riding with his 12-year-old sister. The two were being towed behind a pontoon boat driven by his father, James, on Petite Lake, near Lake Villa.

As the boy bobbed in the water in his life jacket, his father turned the boat around to retrieve him and saw a large white boat "flying down the middle of the lake and bearing down on his son," authorities said in a news release.

James Borcia declined to comment about Hatyina's previous boating arrest, but in a previous email to the Tribune, he expressed his family's mourning for Tony, the youngest of their four children.

An Aug. 1 wake for the child drew an estimated 2,000 visitors, he said in the email.

"At the wake when I looked at all of the pictures of Tony, it just reconfirmed for me what happy times we had with him," Borcia wrote.